Extent of Formalin and Cane Sugar Adulteration and its Impact on Physicochemical Attributes of Milk Sold at Hyderabad and its Outskirts

Abstract: The present investigation was made to examine the extent of adulteration of formalin, cane sugar, boric acid, detergent and salt in market milk. The subsequent impact of these adulterants on the physicochemical attributes of market milk sold at Hyderabad and its outskirts was also studied. For this reason, twenty unprocessed market milk samples were randomly collected from different dairy shops of the Hyderabad city (A). A similar number of samples (twenty) were also availed from the dairy shops of the outskirts of Hyderabad (B). The unprocessed whole buffalo milk/Control milk samples (C) were obtained from the dairy farm of the University. All the samples were immediately brought to the Institute of Food Sciences and Technology, Sindh Agriculture University, Tandojam for analyzing. The results revealed that, 75 % of total milk samples collected from Hyderabad city (A) were adulterated with formalin and 60 % with cane sugar. The extent of formalin and cane sugar adulteration remained 65 % and 45 %, respectively in milk samples collected from outskirts of Hyderabad (B). However, adulterants like boric acid (0 %), detergent (0 %) and salt (0 %) were not found in any of the sample from both areas (A and B). There were significant differences (P<0.05) obtained in the present data regarding physicochemical attributes (such as pH, titratable acidity, specific gravity, protein and fat content) between the control (C) and market milk samples (A and B). It was also observed from this study that all the physicochemical properties remained significantly higher for the market milk samples availed from outskirts of Hyderabad (B) than that of Hyderabad city (A).

Keywords: Adulteration, formalin, cane sugar and physicochemical attributes

Edition: Volume 5 Issue 4, April 2016,

Pages: 827 - 832